[arch-general] We have lost the desktop war. The reason? Windows 7.

[David C. Rankin]

On Monday 26 October 2009 05:57:59 am RedShift wrote:
> This thread will probably erupt in a massive flamewar, yet I decided to
>  post my story anyway. I am talking about the desktop experience in
>  general, not the technical details behind it. Keep that in mind.
> 

Done, the thread is fair topic for discourse among intelligent minds.

> 
> I've been working these past few months with KDE 4.3 and it feels very
>  sluggish and incomplete.

There is no question about it. KDE4 is just slow compared kde3, or the ms 
desktops. My vista installs are more responsive. However, I don't think kde4 
will remain like this. I think the response problem is due to remaining bugs 
in the API that should go away as kde4 matures. I think the biggest problem 
that kde4 will have to overcome is the stain on kde's reputation caused when a 
few major distros pushed kde4 out the door as a "New Desktop" when it was 
barely beta (kde 4.04 was released by SuSE as the desktop for 11.0 in June 
2008) kde4.04 as a desktop -- gimme a break!

But at 4.3.2, kde4 is getting there and I use it every day. The only time I 
boot another desktop is to work in a lightweight desktop (openbox, lxde, 
icewm, enlightenment) All provide a great desktop experience, but none compare 
to the completeness of tools provided natively in kde4. The only time I boot 
vista is to let updates run once monthly :)

I didn't do windows 7 beta, so I can't comment there, but I have used every 
windows since windows 286 (what '88? when I moved from DOS 4.04) and all were 
"usable".

I agree with much you have to say, but I have watched kde4 get better and 
better so I'm optimistic at this point that it will fulfill its promise, but I 
agree, it's not close to doing so yet.

As for my list of kde4 annoyances (bugs) see:

http://www.3111skyline.com/download/bugs/kde4/rankin-bug-list-20091026.pdf

that's all 154 of them. (Note there are about 10 kde3 bugs in there, but I 
wasn't going to take the time to parse them out...)

-- 
David C. Rankin, J.D.,P.E.
Rankin Law Firm, PLLC
510 Ochiltree Street
Nacogdoches, Texas 75961
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